Sonia Hayes has gotten used to seeing bears in her Seminole County neighborhood, but Thursday night was different.

At around 9:30 p.m. she was walking her golden retriever through the Buckingham Estates neighborhood when the dog apparently surprised a mother bear with cubs.

“From in front of a house, behind a car I would say a small female bear just charged right at her,” Hayes said.

Advertisement

Hayes screamed, turned and ran to her home on a cul de sac about a quarter-mile away. When she got home safely, her children looked out the window and saw the bear and cubs in their driveway.

“She followed me home,” Hayes said. “At what pace, I don’t know. I never looked back.” While running and dragging her dog home its back paws were slightly bloodied, she said.

Hayes told WESH 2 News she’s concerned about what would have happened if an older person or young child happened upon what appeared to be an aggressive mother bear.

Derrick Davis who lives just two houses down from where the encounter happened, said he, too, surprised a mother bear outside his home about a year ago.

“She raised up at me and came at me,” Davis said. “But it was just to let her cubs escape.”

The Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission has posted signs along the Seminole Trail which borders the neighborhood where the encounter happened. A spokesman said they had placed a bear trap on First Avenue in Sanford in the vicinity.

A spokesman said they plan to relocate it.

“The trapping effort at that location was non-successful,” said Greg Workman with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

Davis said he sees a small number of people still leaving trash out the night before collection days in non-bear-proof containers.

“The biggest thing is putting your trash up at night because bears are out looking for trash, looking for food,” Davis said.

Hayes, who was back out walking her dog in the neighborhood Monday, said she is used to seeing bears in the neighborhood. But the one she encountered last week was too aggressive. She hopes FWC will trap and relocate the mother and cubs.

“I have to look out for my neighbors and the pets in my community before I look out for the bears,” she said.

People caught repeatedly leaving trash out, which then becomes a food source for bears, usually receive an initial warning, then fines that start at $100.